In “Siege Perilous,” we watched Emma using her dark wiles on Killian to no avail. In this fic, Emma comes back later in the evening to visit Killian again…

Killian set the flask down, giving his eyes a tired rub with his hand. It was very late in the evening, and he felt wearier than he’d felt in a lifetime, beaten down and depleted in a way that left him foundering.

She’d asked him if he loved her. And in that moment, that awful, lingering moment, he knew the answer.

If she had been Emma, truly his Emma, she wouldn’t have had to ask.

Emma was one of the rare few he’d never misrepresented his feelings to. She knew where his interest, then his allegiance, and later his heart firmly rested. Only the Dark One would question him, and with good cause.

He let out a swear word, and threw the flask as hard as he could into the cabin wall. He’d been hoping to find sleep in the bottom of a bottle, but it wasn’t going to happen, not tonight.

“That’s quite a temper you have there.”

Her voice robbed him of his peace, tenuous though it was. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her, sitting quietly at the table across from him.

“What do you want?” he asked flatly.

She stood up with a little laugh, leaning back against the table next to him. “Well, I didn’t come to talk,” she said with a tiny smile. She folded her arms and studied him for a moment.

“You know, I think I’ve gone about this all wrong.”

“How’s that?”

“You,” she said. “And me. And talking.”

He pushed back from the table and got to his feet. “I’m in no mood for riddles. Say what you mean to say and be done with it.”

Emma stepped in until she was pressed right up against him. “And what sort of mood are you in?” she asked, in a voice laden with possibility. Killian’s brows raised, but he remained unmoving. She brought up one hand, tracing the line of his shirt where it opened at his chest.

“I’ve been thinking that the way to a man’s heart may not be through his stomach. Dinner was a bad idea.” She stretched up, kissing his lips lightly. “I think we should skip straight to dessert.”

He grabbed her hand, arresting its motion, and deliberately stepped back.

“Don’t.” His voice was quiet, nearly a whisper.

She couldn’t help but smirk. “You’re going to tell me that you don’t want this now? After the way you’ve pursued me?” She slid her hand free of his grasp, trailing it up his arm and over his shoulders as she moved around behind him, circling.

“All this time, I’ve kept you at arm’s length, and not because I didn’t want you,” she cooed. “Oh, I wanted you. I wanted every bit of you.” Her fingers moved to his hair, letting the silky strands pull through her fingers. “Some nights, I’d lay there awake for hours thinking about how good we’d feel together. Which is funny, if you think about it. I mean, I never had a problem sleeping with a man on a first date before – but I think what held me back was the fact that I knew you’d be more.”

She moved around in front of him now, clearly able to see what her words were doing to him. His face was tight, but his eyes were burning, just as his body was burning with the force of what he was feeling.

“And I’m not afraid anymore,” she said, sliding her hand along his lapel and leaning in, until he could feel the heat of her against him and her breath against his lips.

“I want you, Killian. And there’s nothing stopping you from having every inch of me.”